Medical Aspects of Crime
Book Reviews.
- Author:
Norwood
East, M.S., F.R.C.P. With a Foreword by the Rt. Hon. Sir John Simon. J. & A. Churchill, Ltd. 18/-.
The writer of this volume of studies on criminology has had the advantage of a life time of experience as prison doctor and Prison Commissioner. Few people know the criminal as he does, and few can bring a better knowledge of psychology and a better balanced judgment to bear on him. The phrase, ” common sense ” is so much abused that it has become almost meaningless, but common sense is the governing factor in Dr East’s outlook. Alert to detect and to make due allowances for abnormal physical or mental features in the delinquent, he refuses to be cajoled into an admission that crime is in itself a symptom of abnormal mentality. The criminals lie knows are, for the most part, singularly like ordinary men and are governed by similar instincts.
Dr East does not consider that prison is useless as a deterrent, for he has not in his experience found it so. He does not believe that even if the criminal is mentally abnormal, he should necessarily entirely escape punishment nor that his interest should be exalted above those of the community. ” Crime,” he reminds us, ” is essentially a social problem and not altogether a medical one. To ensure permanent advantage from medical methods of attack, the approval of legal, medical and public opinion is necessary.” He points out the complete impracticability of handing over criminals to psychologists to detain or discharge as they please, and he is aware of the very real risk of discrediting the role of psychology if too much is claimed for it. ‘’ A great dis-service to future -progress may result unless zeal is combined with prudence and sound judgment. We must accept the fact that we may learn much about the psychological factors associated with criminal conduct and yet fail to help the criminal.” This cautious attitude makes the large share which Dr East would claim for the psychiatrist in criminology all the more striking. ” Any person charged with murder, attempted murder, grievous bodily harm, attempted suicide, arson, sex offence, or any other if the circumstances of the crime present peculiar features, should be placed under observation and mentally examined before trial. Also, those who have a known insane heredity or who have previously suffered from mental or nervous disorder. A psychological investigation is usually desirable in the case of adolescents, whatever the nature of the offence may be.”
Dr East gives an admirable analysis of the many types of instability and incomplete mental development found among young offenders. He points out the great difficulty of making a certain diagnosis during the adolescent period and considers that ” many cases of this nature can only be determined by the efflux of time.” The great army of minor psychotics, ‘’ constitutional psychic inferiors,” psycho-neurotics, and to some extent the feeble-mindel, contribute more than their share to the prison population, but the author evidently finds it easier to describe them than to suggest a satisfactory method of dealing with them.
In view of the great importance which Dr. East attaches to a full and accurate history in arriving at a diagnosis and prognosis in mentally abnormal offenders, it might be thought that trained psychiatric social workers would be invaluable as members of a remand prison staff. The importance of the medical reports made to the Courts might justify urging the experiment on a probably reluctant Treasury.
Readers will be glad to have available the paper on ” Attempted Suicide,” originally printed in 1913 and still a classic on the subject.
The side lights on social conditions are interesting; one is reminded that though unemployment was less common thirty years ago, the consequences were much more terrible. The tragic role played by alcohol will seem incredible to a post war generation. Social students will find valuable material in the long series of papers on the medical administration of prisons. It is indeed a history of the slow and painful growth of prison reform which contains a mine of information not easily accessible elsewhere. The cynic might point out that some of the worse abominations of the prisons of the past were introduced from the best humanitarian motives. Yet the trend has been, and still is, to the more decent treatment of the criminal and the steady diminution of crime. The writer is firm in his conviction that for the attainment of these ends, psychological medicine is playing a supremely important part.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.